Lose It! Premium vs Weight Watchers Review

Here at Lose It! we’ve always believed that folks should use whichever program helps them lose weight in a safe, sustainable way. We know many Lose It! members track their calories alongside with their Weight Watchers points and asked one of our power members, Jennifer Sader, who uses both programs, to give an honest review of her experience between Weight Watchers and Lose It! Premium.

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Note: I am a Lose It! Premium member and a Weight Watchers member. Obviously, I see value in both memberships. All opinions expressed here are my own and have no endorsement from the Weight Watchers organization.

 

As a member of Weight Watchers ($19.99+ per month) and Lose It! Premium ($39.99/year), I frequently bounce back and forth between the two. I love Lose It!’s interface, but also want access to my WW PointsPlus totals. (I tried integrating them through the Health App and did not have a good experience).  In moments of extreme obsessive-compulsiveness, I tried logging in both, which takes too much time but did help me compare the two programs. Here’s what I’ve found.

Tracking System

Weight Watchers has two techniques for tracking: Points Plus and Simply Filling. Most fruits and vegetables are 0 Points Plus on both plans.

Lose It! has one technique: Tracking calories. You log what you eat and the exercise you complete with the goal of staying in your target calorie budget.

Look & Feel

The Lose It! look and feel is my favorite thing about the app! It’s clean and uncluttered, with cute food category icons that, it turns out, are not just there for decoration (I’ll explain later).

Unfortunately, the Weight Watchers app is really starting to show its age.  The design has not changed for years, and now feels dated along with frequent crashes and slow responses.

Check out the food logs from each app:

Interface for Logging a New Meal

Both Lose It! and WW have a search feature for entering new foods and a barcode scanner. The database for the two apps seems similar in size.

Weight Watchers has a unique feature, Snap & Track, which allows the member to take a photo of a meal then enter the foods that make up that meal later. This feature is a great way to stay on track when I’m too busy or when tracking would be awkward, like when I’m out to lunch with a friend. Weight Watchers also has PointsPlus-friendly recipes accessible through the app.

Lose It!’s recent Quick Add Calorie feature makes logging on the go a lot faster. While no meal photos are in the current version of the program, this new feature does make logging easier when I’m in a hurry.

Log Previous Meals

Like many people, I eat similar meals frequently. I like that Lose It! allows me to enter a new meal from a previous one. I can search for specific foods that were a part of the meal, re-log the meal, and edit quantities or leave out foods I didn’t repeat.

Weight Watchers has something similar, but it’s not organized by meals. Instead, you can select from Recently Added foods and check several items to add at once. This is a little less convenient and sometimes gives me trouble, especially when I’m trying to log my breakfast at lunchtime and have to change the mealtime for every single item.

Exercise Options

Both the Weight Watchers and the Lose It! Premium apps allow me to enter exercise manually or connect Apple Health, or a FitBit, Jawbone UP, or Misfit tracker to sync activity. Weight Watchers adds the Garmin VivoFit and their proprietary activelink devices.

Lose It! connects with Apple Health, Google Fit, and adds the Nike + Fuelband and several apps: RunKeeper, Nike+ Running, MapMyFitness, and Strava Running and Cycling.

Community Features

Both programs have a lot of social support built into them, which is really helpful for those losing weight.

The Weight Watchers message boards allow members to connect and share tips and tricks for sticking with the program, or bond over common interests. At one time, I was very active on a Triathlon thread that even met in person to do a race. In the app and on the website, Weight Watchers has a 24/7 chat support option, staffed by leaders and receptionists, to help people who are struggling in real time. They also recently added a Personal Coaching option for an additional cost.

In Lose It! there are forums (which are a lot like the Weight Watchers message boards) and Community Groups.. There are thousands of groups ranging from weight loss to groups for new mothers.

Challenges

Weight Watchers has a Challenge function on the website, but neither it nor the Message Boards are supported in the mobile app. Groups that meet up in the message boards often do informal challenges.

Lose It! Challenges allow you to compete against others in areas such as eating fruits and veggies, logging the most days or burning the most calories available to all types of members. One challenge in particular, known as The Lose It! Challenge, is really engaging and intense. During this type of challenge, a Lose It! member earns points for losing weight, eating healthy and exercising. You can compete against others in the community to see how your efforts stack up.  The Lose It! Challenge can be joined (and created) by Lose It! Premium members. 3-4 times per year Lose It! opens this type of challenge up to all members.

Progress Reports & Data Insights

Weight Watchers has some progress reporting available through the website, but not in the app itself. Within the app there is a weight tracker but for the other reporting you’ll need to visit your online account.

Lose It! has always had reports available through the site, but Lose It! Premium recently added “Insights” in-app where you can dig into your foods and exercises, like to see how many calories are typically in each meal, and also my favorite feature: Patterns.

Patterns was recently introduced and has been constantly updated since I first reviewed it.  Patterns uses those cute little icons in Lose It! to determine how eating different types of foods correlates with calorie budget compliance, and these can be interesting. For example, my Patterns includes a recommendation to drink more iced tea, because I tend to stay within my budget when I do.

My experience with Patterns also highlights one area Lose It! is pulling ahead– adding new features to the program and fixing them quickly if an issue arrises.

Check out a few screen shots from Patterns and Insights:

Summary

Weight Watchers has helped a lot of people lose weight. However, the app has been languishing for lack of attention and needs a serious update.

Lose It! Premium is an economical option for someone who likes a lot of flexibility, data, and features. The app is updated frequently and the Lose It! team is very responsive to member feedback and feature requests.

I’m excited to see future versions of both programs.